Planica Nordic Center: first jumps in February

on 2011-12-15

Works on the new ski jumping hills at Planica are running on full speeds, still in this ski jumping season first jumps on the Velikanka ski jumping hills HS 135 and HS 105 shall be performed.

Since July phase one of the construction of "Planica Nordic Center", that shall bring Nordic World Ski Championships 2017 to Slovenia, is running. As part of this first construction step for around 25m Euro the old Bloudkova Velikanka and Srednija are replaced by modern large and normal hills, from spring 2012 the construction of five new junior jumping hills will follow. Phase two will concern the ski flying hill and a new cross-country stadium, which means another 20m Euro investment to be done by 2014.

Works on both new competition ski jumps are running on full speeds now, 80 to 100 workers are occupied daily on the Velikanka area. Soil works are roughly completed already and now works concentrate on the concrete knoll of Bloudkova Velikanka, the inruns of both hills and the ski lift.

"Surely we can expect the first jumps on Bloudkova Velikanka to be performed still in this season. That's how we can mark the 10th anniversary of the destruction of the hill", said Minister for Education and Sports Igor Lukšič towards RTV Slovenia.

When works on the two larger hills K120 and K95 will be finished by spring 2012, the new-construction of the planned five junior hills HS 84, HS 66, HS 45, HS 30 and HS 15 can be passed over to. These shall already be usable by the end of the year 2012 then.

Phase two of Planica Nordic Center shall then start in 2013, with the planning still moving on now. Before the enlargement of Letalnica Bratov Gorišek ski flying hill into a world record hill and the new-construction of the cross-country facilities including the stadium, which is essential for possible WSC, can start still a few issues have to be resolved. Currently there are still talks going on with environmental organizations, in order to empty out their concerns, and estate owners, because 6 out of 184 haven't agreed to the sale of necessary areas yet.